CRATUS

CRATUS (CRATOs; KRATOs; Strength) Greek The personification of strength; a demigod or lesser god; son of the TITAN PALLAS and the water NYMPH STYx; brother of NIIE (Victory), BIA (Force), and ZELUS (Zeal).

Cratus and his siblings, winged creatures who moved very quickly, served as guards and attendants to ZEUS. Their mother had sided with the great god in his battle with CRONUS and the Titans, and had brought her children, Cratus, Nike, Bia, and Zelus, to serve with her.

To Cratus and Bia fell the task of carrying out the punishment of the god PROMETHEUS, who had given fire to humans. They chained him to a rock high in the mountains, where each day a vulture plucked at his liver and each night the organ grew back.

The Roman counterpart to Cratus was Potestas.

CRETE Greek An island southeast of GREECE in the eastern Mediterranean. Crete had one of the world’s earliest civilizations, and one of the most brilliant: the Minoan civilization, named after the legendary king MINOS. It is believed to be the birthplace of classical Greek language and literature. In mythology, Minos was the son of the god ZEUS and EUROPA. He married PASIPHAË, who fell in love with a BULL. Pasiphae gave birth to the MINOTAUR, half human and half bull. In order to hide the Minotaur, Minos had DAEDALUS build the famous LABYRINTH. Young men and maidens

were said to be sacrificed to the bull. In the great palace of Knossos, beautiful murals depict these young people vaulting over the back of the Minotaur. Minoan culture was at its prime between 2200 and 1450 B.C.

CREUSA (1) (GlAuCA) Greek Daughter of King Creon of CORINTH. Creusa married the hero, JASON. In jealous revenge, MEDEA, Jason’s first wife, used her magic powers to kill Creusa. Medea sent Creusa a wedding dress soaked in poison. When Creusa put on the dress, it burned into her flesh and killed her. Creon, Creusa’s father, also perished from the poison.

CREUSA (2) Roman Wife of AENEAS, a hero of the TROJAN WAR who went on to become a founding figure in Roman mythology, and mother of his son, ASCANIUS. When Aeneas was fleeing TROY as it burned, Creusa was lost in the crush of people. When he discovered this, Aeneas went back to find her, but only her shade, or ghost, appeared to him. Creusa’s spirit told Aeneas that he would embark on a great journey before establishing a great city, which would be Lavinium, near ROME. Creusa begged her husband to raise their son well.

CRiUS (KRiOs) Greek A first-generation TITAN; son of URANUS (Heaven) and GAIA (Earth); with EURYBIA, a daughter of PONTUS and Gaia, the father of ASTRAEUS, PALLAS, and PERSES.

Little is known of Crius other than his role as a father. However, hints in the writings of ancient Greeks suggest that he was a god of leadership and domestic animals and is associated with the ram, or male sheep. Some suggest that Crius became the constellation Aries, the ram.

CRoNUS (KRONus) Greek A TITAN, the son of URANUS (Heaven) and GAIA (Earth). With his sister-wife, RHEA, Cronus fathered daughters: DEMETER, HESTIA, and HERA, and sons: HADES, POSEIDON, and ZEUS, who became OLYMPIAN GODS. Cronus dethroned his father, Uranus, and was in turn dethroned by his son, Zeus.

Cronus was probably a corn god in ancient times and is often depicted holding a sickle or scythe—the same weapon that he used to render Uranus impotent. The Roman SATURN is identified with Cronus.

Cronus Overthrows Uranus Uranus and Gaia had many children, including the Titans, the CYCLOPES, and the HECATONCHEIRES (Hundred-Handed Ones).

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Uranus grew jealous of his children and had them confined under the Earth. Gaia was very unhappy about losing all her children. Finally, she gave a sickle to her bravest son, Cronus, and encouraged him to use it on his father. This Cronus did, mutilating his father horribly so that Uranus became impotent. From his blood were born the furies and the giants; from parts of his flesh, which Cronus had cut off and thrown into the sea, arose the goddess APHRODITE. The defeated Uranus left his realm to Cronus, but warned that one of his sons would in turn overthrow him.

The Children of Cronus Cronus married his sister, Rhea, with whom he fathered daughters Deme-ter, Hestia, and Hera and sons Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Remembering the prophecy of his defeated father, Uranus, Cronus swallowed his children as soon as they were born so that none could overthrow him. In despair, Rhea sought the advice of Gaia, who advised her to give Cronus a stone to swallow the next time a child was born to her. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid him away and presented Cronus with a large stone wrapped in baby clothes. Cronus promptly swallowed the stone, thinking it was his child.

When Zeus grew to be a young man, he tricked Cronus into coughing up all the siblings—and the stone—that he had swallowed. Then the siblings gathered together with Zeus, the Cyclopes, and the Hecatoncheires to fight a long war with Cronus and finally defeat him. The era of the Titans ended and Zeus and his brothers and sisters founded the Olympian dynasty.

There are various versions of the story of Cronus. The oldest and most often cited is found in the writ-ings of HESIOD.

CuPiD (Desire) Roman God of love, son of VENUS and possibly of VULCAN, the fire god. Cupid is usually represented as a winged boy or fat baby, often blindfolded to denote his irresponsible nature, and carrying a bow and arrows, used to shoot his victims. Cupid is a Roman adaptation of the Greek god EROS. He was of no great importance except to writers such as VIRGIL (in the AENEiD) and to many artists.

CuRETES (Young Men) Greek The young Cre-tan warriors, possibly sons of RHEA, who guarded the infant ZEUS when he was hidden on Mount IDA (2) in central CRETE. The young men danced wildly and clashed their weapons together to drown out the sound of the infant’s crying. Some sources suggest that there was a cult in Crete devoted to the god Zeus as a youth (kouros) and that its devotees were the

Curetes. There is further mention of the Curetes in several Greek myths, including that of ZAGREUS.

The Curetes were sometimes identified with the CORYBANTES who performed with dancing, shouting, and clashing of armor at the rites of the goddess CYBELE.

See also GALLI.

CYBELE Greek A Phrygian (Asiatic) goddess of fertility who found favor in GREECE (in the fourth or fifth century B.C.) and ROME (in the third century B.C.). She was sometimes associated with RHEA, the ancient TITAN, as she, too, personified the Earth in its primitive state. Cybele was sometimes known as AGDISTIS, who had some of the attributes of both a male and a female. Her attendant god was ATTIS; her priests were the GALLI. The cult of Cybele had a strong appeal for women. With Gordius, king of PHRYGIA (ASIA MINOR), Cybele bore a son, MIDAS.

Cybele and Attis Attis was a lesser god with whom the great goddess Cybele fell in love. He is represented as a young, handsome shepherd. Cybele chose Attis as her priest and imposed upon him a vow of chastity. Attis broke his vow and in a fit of rage, Cybele changed him into a pine tree, or an almond tree. The death of Attis and his rebirth as a tree were celebrated every year in ancient Greece, and later, in Rome. This myth of Attis obviously has its origins in ancient fertility rites, based on the belief that Cybele or Agdistis, as a personification of the Earth, kills and then resurrects vegetation.

Cybele and Midas The goddess Cybele mated with Gordius, king of Phrygia, with whom she bore a son, Midas. Midas inherited his father’s throne. By the god DIONYSUS, Midas was granted the wish that everything he touched should turn to gold.

CYCLOPES (1) (Singular: CyClOps; Round-eyed) Greek Three sons of URANUS and GAIA, large and strong, each with one eye in the middle of his forehead; siblings of the HECATONCHEIRES, hundred-handed giants, and the younger TITANS. Their names were Brontes (Thunder) Steropes (Lightning), and Arges (Thunderbolt); they were best known most for making lightning and thunder.

Their father, Uranus, hated them, and banished them to TARTARUS, the deepest pit below the under-world, but Gaia convinced Uranus to free their sons. However, after CRONUS, a Titan and the youngest of their siblings, revolted against and defeated Uranus, he once again banished back to Tartarus these three

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fearsome brothers, sometimes referred to as the Uranian Cyclopes.

When his time came to overthrow Cronus, ZEUS, having learned in a prophecy that he could not win his battle against his father and the Titans unless he had the aid of the Cyclopes, freed Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. In return, they helped Zeus defeat Cronus. The three then forged great treasures for the OLYMPIAN LODS: thunder and lightning, which they gave to Zeus; a helmet of invisibility, which they gave to HADES; and a great trident, which they gave to POSEIDON. From that time forward, these one-eyed brothers were greatly admired and respected by the Olympians.

Brontes, Steropes, and Arges died at the hands of APOLLO, who killed them for making the thunderbolt which Zeus had used to kill Appolo’s son ASCLEPIUS.

Later Greek mythology tells of a group of one-eyed beings who lived under Mount Aetna and helped the smith god HEPHAESTUS forge thunder, lightning, and armor for the gods. Some sources consider these to be the three sons of Uranus and Gaia. Other sources suggest that they are a separate group of Cyclopes.

CYCLOPES (2) (Singular: CyClOps) Greek The poet HOMER describes the Cyclopes in the oDyssEy as a tribe of gigantic, one-eyed shepherds who lived on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Some sources suggest the tribe is made up of the off-spring of the sea god POSEIDON and a water NYMPH.

These Cyclopes are cannibals, wild and ruthless, and pose a great threat to humans stranded on

their shores. The most famous among them was POLYPHEMUS, who captured ODYSSEUS and his men and held them in a cave, then began eating some of them each day. (See “Odysseus and the Cyclops” under Odyssey).

CYCLOPES (3) (Singular: CyClOps) Greek A race of very strong men, who were known to be master builders, perhaps having come from Thrace, a region on the northern shores of the Aegean Sea.

These Cyclopes served King PROETUS of the city Tiryns. For him, they built the great walls of the city. They built similar walls around the city of MYCENAE and the famous Lion Gate there. The stones they used were so massive that the term “cyclopean” has come to mean gigantic. They were also called “belly-hands” for they worked for their livings.

CYCNuS Greek Son of ARES by Pelopia or by Pyrene. Cycnus was cruel and aggressive like his father, the god of war. Cycnus attacked and killed travelers in the region of Tempe, in THESSALY. He used their bones to build a temple for his father. One day he challenged HERACLES. In the fearsome battle that followed, Heracles killed Cycnus and severely wounded Ares, who had tried to help Cycnus.

CYRENE Greek Thessalian NYMPH, carried off by the god APOLLO to the country that came to be called Cyrenaica. There she bore Apollo a son, ARISTAEUS.